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A Tale Of Two Footballers

"People say managers pick teams, but in the end players do. They make themselves selectable and put themselves in a position where they make it impossible to be left out."England U21 manager Gareth Southgate speaking in October 2014

You might think that Southgate, the future England manager, was talking about Harry Kane, scorer of almost 150 goals since that time and now just about the most sought after forward in world football.

But he wasn't talking about Kane but one of his U21 team mates, Saido Berahino. who yesterday was told by his manager that he needed to work on his fitness. A "forward" who hasn't scored for 733 days and 43 matches.

Unlike Kane who has spent the last few seasons relentlessly working on his game (an obvious example being that he used to be predominantly right footed but is now as comfortable on his left), Berahino has been banned for 12 months for drink driving, twice been pictured inhaling nitrous oxide, has filmed himself allegedly driving while snapchatting and received an eight week FA ban for failing a drugs test.

This story should be pinned to every dressing room of every age group team in the country and each and every player asked which one they would like to become. Because, for every Harry Kane, I fear there are many Saido Berahinos.